Morinth's Revenge
by Shepard-Vakarian
Summary: It has been two years since the Reapers were destroyed and the galaxy has been re-building. Commander Shepard has continued to fly across the galaxy helping others with the help of her boyfriend Garrus. Samara has not yet forgiven herself for killing her own daughter. What she doesn't know if that Morinth is alive and planning her revenge. Garrus/Femshep. Cover image belongs to BW.
1. Aftermath

Morinth's Revenge

"Shepard, can you believe it has been so long since we were last here?" asked Samara, her arms folded with efficient pause before adding "I can scarcely believe it myself!"

I looked at her, then around at my personal quarters on the Normandy with the hope to indicate that I had been busy before her arrival. Meeting her gaze, I answered her; "You're surprised that it's been so long, after everything that we went through with the Reapers?" I queried, offering a solemn glimpse of amusement before regaining my composure.

"Well, a lot has changed since we last went to Omega." was all that she offered in reply. After a silence that stretched the room, with both of us lifting our lips as if to speak, only for nothing to come out, the faint sound of murmurs started to escape from Samara's lips.

"I will leave you to it, Commander, but I thought you should know that we will soon be arriving – and Joker has asked to speak to you"

"Dismissed" was all that I felt appropriate to say in that moment, although Samara didn't wait for me to finish the word before she swept out of the room – leaving me once again to the quiet confines of my personal quarters – sort of.

"Do you know how hard it is for a Turian to hide on que in such a small space? … I think I deserve a trophy for that performance" came Garrus' deep, lazy voice as his body gritted slowly from underneath the bed.

"World class performance" I smirked, "although I think you've probably damaged the bed".

"Never liked it that much anyway" was his quick reply, regaining his composure, brushing himself down and striding towards me.

I looked at him and felt myself loosen as he wrapped his arms around me. He was... Garrus. My Garrus. I kissed him and it felt right, regardless of the fact that I was human and he was Turian. He'd been there for me from the beginning, fighting for us to win. Never straying my side, even when I was working for Cerberus, an act of which had gained me few friends and many enemies.

"Were my ears acting up or did Samara seem strangely excited to be returning to Omega?"

Shaking my head, I smirked a little whilst looking up at him – impossible not to do when there is such a height difference between us - "Nah, that's her uninspired voice. It's not an Asari colony, those are the only ones that make her excited."

"I suppose you have to go talk to Joker, huh?"

"Back to the mission" I confirmed with a knowing sigh, placing a hand on his cheek and kissing the spot where he had been scarred years earlier. Those scars that first drove me wild, according to Garrus, although I had always argued that I had loved him before then.

I felt Garrus' face drop a little at talk of the mission; which surprised me, as Garrus had always been the member of her team most focused on the mission at hand, charging into battle with his guns at every opportunity that she gave him.

"What's wro-"

"Do you remember when we were fighting on Earth and we said that if we both survived the Reaper invasion, we'd retire somewhere tropical? Guess it's easy to say that at the time, not so easy to actually abandon people that ask for your help. There's always going to be a reason to stay and fight."

I smiled a little in memory of that conversation back on Earth. I remembered him talking about retiring somewhere tropical, maybe even finding out what a Human-Turian baby looked like. I remembered dismissing the idea, with Garrus telling me that I was merely worried that daddy's rifle collection would scare junior – and me joking that I was more afraid of him liking the idea. Two trained killers in the family was enough.

I remembered the conversation and how it made me feel. It didn't however change the fact that soon we'd be heading out to a mission.

I was a little lost for words as I unravelled myself from around his waist slowly and turned towards my armour locker. Whilst trailing my fingers along my battle armour, I focused my eyes away from him. Next to my armour stood the Cerberus Assault Armour that I had been wearing on the day that I told Garrus that I wanted to be more than friends. Not working for Cerberus, I had no need to wear it on the battlefield, but it still remained for the memories. I knew that if I turned to look at Garrus, I'd be able to see all too well the hurt in his face of my sudden demeanour. But we had a mission to focus on.

"The mission is what matters right now. We'll talk about this later Garrus" I said non-committal, then remained still until he turned to leave.

"Sure. Right. The mission. Sure thing, Commander".

I sighed a breath of relief as he exited my cabin. He must've sensed my avoidance of the subject and observed how quickly I backed away from the discussion, but I convinced myself that I couldn't be distracted, I hadn't become Commander Shepard by putting my personal life before my work. Garrus respected that – didn't he?

Suiting up for battle, my mind quickly turned to the mission at hand. Reports from Omega spoke of a gang of Blood Pack Pyros attempting to over-run Omega. Aria was fighting them off as best she could but had requested my help personally through my private terminal – and Aria wasn't someone that I particularly wanted to piss off. Besides, she had been a valuable war asset in the fight against the Reapers.

Stepping out onto the bridge, my eyes sought Joker. These past two years had been hard on him. If there were any way that I could've saved EDI – whilst still maintaining that the Reapers were destroyed – I knew that I would have done it. That didn't mean that I lived guilt-free. Before alerting him of my presence, I saw his vacant expression look over at the seat beside him – where EDI once sat.

"Joker. You wanted to see me? Why? Are we not cleared to land on Omega?"

My words were spoken with enough blunt force to stir him out of his thoughts, although immediately following there was a hesitation on his part, which made me fear that he had taken my inquisitive remarks as something aggressive.

I sought his eyes as he turned his chair to face me, although his face was guarded. A ghost of what it had been.

"Commander, when you were on Omega.. recruiting Samara... you said that Morinth was killed?"

"She was. I was there. I saw Samara kill her myself. We saw the body"

"That's what I thought Commander. Only.. when I attempted to get the Normandy cleared to land... she answered the call. Said that her mother was on board and she needed to speak to her. Said her name was Morinth. She wants to see you and Samara in Afterlife when we've touched down..."

I placed my fingers on the throbbing pain in my forehead, attempting to comprehend this information. That didn't make any sense at all. She was dead. I had seen Samara kill her – I had helped her. And this was years ago, there was no way that it was the same Morinth. Even if she could've been revived, why wait so long to seek revenge?

"Can I suggest you maybe not-go? She sounded really hacked off" Joker intervened, turning back to his controls. Shortly after, I could feel the weight of the Normandy under my feet start to descend.

"I should go. Prepare the crew. Have you told Samara?" the words had barely left my mouth before Joker tisked and gave a small reminiscent chuckle.

"Sure, as if I'm going to tell our homicidal Justicar that the daughter she killed might be wanting to repay her for mommy's love. Nope, I'll leave that one to you, Commander"

"Appreciate it" I smirked, glad to hear some remnant of humour was still intact between them. I started walking down from the bridge and towards the galaxy map.

The Normandy had been around Tropai in the Silean Nebula when I initially received the message and now we had reached the Omega Nebula, it was soon time to go in with the crew and scope out the facility for Blood Pack. However, Morinth was still spinning around in my head.

Morinth was an Ardat-Yakshi and knowing her killing streak, surely there would be more evidence of her presence on Omega. Then I remembered Liara speaking of how the Asari government were hesitant to disclose the Ardat-Yakshi monastery to us in a distress signal during the time we were fighting reapers. If Morinth had only traveled to Omega recently, had she fled to Illium or another asari colony, with the asari government covering up her existence? How many victims had she claimed since they believed her death in 2185?

There was a chance that this was all a ruse, a trick, using Morinth's name. But that led to more questions, for not many knew the details of their encounter with Morinth. Nor would anyone else have any reason to request the presence of myself and Samara. They were clearly expecting us to come armed.

Should I tell Samara?

Should I go meet Morinth in Afterlife, or ignore the request?


	2. Revival

As the Normandy landed on Omega, I felt a sickening sort of familiarity. The kind where I knew that whatever was happening on Omega, there was a guarantee that people were in danger. I had done far too many missions on Omega, from Eclipse mercs to Blood Pack and Blue Suns. Fought everything from Krogan to Vorcha. It should've instilled me with confidence; instead it filled me with repulsive disdain for everything that happened on Omega. Aria, of course, saw it differently.

Garrus, as Archangel, had performed acts of justice on Omega whilst I was still part of the Lazarus Project. He'd spoke of the greed and mercilessness of the criminals that frequented Omega. The thought made me smile. Garrus would always go to the place where he could do the most good. When his days at C-Sec weren't enough, he had joined the Normandy. After that, he took out mercenaries and other illegal operations on Omega. Then helped me fight the Collectors; as well as the Reaper invasion. All of this made me wonder why he was suddenly interested in giving it all up.

I could ask him, of course. Perhaps I would. After the mission.

Opening the door to the shuttle bay, Garrus and Samara were already suited up for battle. The shuttles, whilst worn, were nearly as unbreakable as the Normandy itself, meaning that any conflict that arose while approaching the Kenzo district. The three of us held our positions as the Normandy released the shuttles onto the earthy, desolate atmosphere of Omega.

"This takes me back to you and me taking out all those mercs some years ago" Garrus reminisced, his tall Turian figure sat on the other side of the shuttle. His eyes glimpsing out at the environment around us as the shuttle sped through the streets of Omega, thrusting us all upwards with every bump in the road.

"Just like old times." I said optimistically.

"Well...not quite. We were fighting the Collectors then... and I never thought I'd be dating a human."

We both smirked. No matter what happened, Garrus was always Garrus. Nothing short of murder would make him displeased with me.

"Perhaps. But you still love your calibrations."

Garrus snorted in reply. "Hmm, true. I guess some things don't change."

It was then that Samara chimed in, who had been stood next to Garrus and appearing to have little interest in our conversation up until then.

"Shepard, as you know, being a Justicar means that I cannot let an unjust citizen go unpunished. When we arrive on Omega, I will be required to kill Aria for her repeated support of illegal activities as well as actions committed by herself. The death of the original owner of Afterlife for a start. I suspect she has been known to you for quite some time Shepard, do you spare fugitives that assist you in battle?"

"Aria has helped you too, Samara. When we needed to find Morinth. You can't just go around killing everyone; without Aria's help, we wouldn't have had the Blue Suns, Blood Pack and Eclipse Mercs fighting against the Reapers. I wouldn't have found Mordin or Garrus. She has done enough to help our cause, so back off."

The stern tone of my voice did not cause even a tinge in Samara's expression. I, on the other hand, was not so excellent at concealing my emotions. My face had hardened and my fist wound even more tightly over the metal ring I was holding to stay in place whilst the shuttle was moving.

"No need to get furious with me Shepard; I was merely enquiring as to where your loyalties lie. Not that it matters: for my Justicar code is above my desire to please you... and my Oath of Subsumation expired upon defeating the Collectors."

Before I could fully think of the repercussions of what I was about to say, the words blurted from my lips like an escaped convict.

"Morinth is alive!" after a brief pause, I continued "she wants to see you. See us. She wants to meet us at Afterlife. You'll obey my orders until then or you can face your daughter alone. I won't have you turning against our allies."

There was a much longer pause this time. Garrus and I exchanged momentary looks at one another, then my eyes diverted back to Samara, who had barely moved a muscle.

"I see. Morinth. My daughter."

Before I could finish trying to figure out if these were broken sentences, a train of thought or her struggling to comprehend this information, the shuttle stopped outside the Kenzo district. As the doors opened and we stepped out of the shuttle, we were greeted by a barrier of flames covering the skyline.

Within moments, the faint shadows of Blood Pack started to advance towards us. At least two of them had advanced weaponry that had likely caused the fire. A fireball grew larger as it came towards us.

"Find cover!" I screamed, ducking behind a large slab of stone that looked as if it had fallen in the initial assault.

As I loaded my weapon, I could see Samara lifting an approaching Blood Pack into the air. I aimed my weapon and killed our floating enemy, whilst in the corner of my eye sizing up my next target.

"Their skin has adapted to the flames; they are immune to the fire!" she said as she stretched a biotic field with her hands to act as a barrier against the flames.

Garrus sniped several of the mercs in the distance whilst I took out the ones that were fast approaching. We were five Blood Pack down when a female voice cried out from behind the remaining troops.

"Stop!" the words echoed through the walls. It was only then I realized that we were standing in what looked like the entrance lobby of a warehouse or weapons facility.

The shadow of a figure started to emerge behind one of the Vorcha. None of the Blood Pack were attacking her, but the voice didn't sound Vorchan. It didn't even sound alien. It sounded familiar.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before you'd show up, Commander."

Suddenly, I knew who was speaking to me. But it wasn't me who acknowledged her first. It was Garrus.

"Ashley. Is that you?"

The figure of Lieutenant Commander Williams appeared before us. None of us looked like we really believed what we were seeing. Yet none of us looked away.

Seeming to dodge the question, she looked straight at me. And spoke.

"So that going to hell thing with the Reapers didn't really work out, huh?"

I winced a little at the memory of having to shoot Ash on the Citadel, after she refused to believe that Udina was working for Cerberus. Her dying words had stung, engraved themselves in the very deepest archives of my mind. Ash had been a dear companion to me but in those moments on the Citadel, it was about more than us. If I hadn't of taken the shot, Udina and Cerberus would've made damn sure to kill us all – including Ash.

"Guess not. Ash, what are you doing here? What happened to you? Does this have anything to do with Morinth?"

I could feel a twitch in the air near Samara at the sound of her name, but I persevered to hold Ash's stare, to watch as her lips pulled upward into a tight smile.

"Oh Shepard, there are more of us than you think. All those people you've pissed off in this galaxy, we're coming back for you. And together, we won't fail in taking you down."

Within seconds of finishing her sentence, the sharp sound of a bullet blasted through the room and aimed for Ashley's heart. Almost as quick as the bullet was shot, Ash raised her hand held the bullet in mid air.

The tiny metal bullet levitating in front of her, Ash's eyelids dropped and when they were once again raised, her eyes turned black as night and her voice was no longer her own. It was Morinth's.

"Silly Shepard, you cannot begin to understand who you are dealing with. Meet me in Afterlife. Aria's fate depends on it. And I have a proposition for you."


	3. Till Death

"Just because I can't shoot you, doesn't mean I can't hurt you!"

On my orders, Garrus leapt forward and thrust a concussive shot straight into Morinth's chest, knocking her off her feet. The fleet of Blood Pack charged forward whilst Garrus and I held them off with our assault rifles. Biotics flew past me like mystical wind, knocking down and throwing around helpless enemies. Their flamethrowers fell like meteors in the sky and the grounds laid blood stained beside dead vorcha.

Ashley's body raised from the ground, grinning. Her eyes still dark and empty; "Have your victory, Shepard. Next time we meet, someone will die. I'll see you soon.."

Her body throbbed frantically for a moment before Ash's body was released and left to fall on her knees. Panting heavily, Ashley looked down at the ground with gritted teeth.

"I will have my revenge, Shepard. You ruined my life. You dishonoured me as a Spectre, you worked for Cerberus and yet you continued to live while I was left to rot." she rose to her feet, her eyes fixated on a deathly stare. Aimed at me.

Suddenly, shrieks and frisky footsteps could be heard from the hallway behind her. The crew tensed, expecting more Vorcha on the way. Sure enough, no less than two dozen vorcha arrived in minutes. Howling and screeching. Their faces ravenous for a fight.

Ashley looked at her minions, then back at the crew.

"You know, I _have_ been instructed to allow you to pass through to Afterlife. But I think my army has enough strength to destroy you. Save you the pain of watching Morinth tear you and your crew apart."

"I'd like to see you try" Samara interjected.

Ashley made a short 'hm' sound, then paused. "Well. I've always been a woman of faith... let's see shall we?"

We prepared our guns, with assault rifles blasting at the vorcha. These were fast, but we were faster. I rolled out of cover to take two vorcha on the left, while Garrus took two on the right. But more were running towards us, running fast.

As Samara threw one vorcha, his squad revelled at the opportunity to rush past their fallen comrad and welcomed the distraction on us. Suddenly, I heard a choking sound and turned to find Samara raised in mid air with a Vorcha's charred hand around her neck.

Panic was starting to set in as I aimed my gun to his skull. Sending him a fierce spot to the head, I hurriedly observed the battlefield. Then looked at Samara, who had been dropped on the ground as the vorcha fell dead. Clutching at her neck, her eyes were wide with the shock of what was happening.

"There's too many! We have to get back to the Normandy!" I called out as we shot continuous streams of bullets at our enemies. But it wasn't enough, there were too many coming.

"Joker, get us out of here!" I called through our Comms signal. "I don't care that there's no landing area, we need you to pick us up. Do it!"

There was a change in the air as the winds brushed through the building ruins as the Normandy pushed itself into the destroyed main lobby of the Kenzo district.

"Run!"

At my call, Garrus and Samara started to run towards the Normandy. As I turned, the burning red hand of a Vorcha that broke free of it's biotic entrapment slashed the side of my throat. It's claws felt like knives as my body deflated from shock. I could see the ceiling – so I knew that I was descending – but my sight turned into haze as the blood rushed down my armour.

My last memory after that was of two red eyes looking down at me, ready to devour. After that, I fell out of consciousness.

–

In my dreams, I saw fire. Flames licking and teasing the walls of Omega. I could hear Aria screaming, biotics hurling at the door whilst I throw my fists against it, begging to the Gods that with all my brute force I could open the door and save Aria.

"Nobody should die because of me. Nobody should die because of me. Nobody should die because of me!"

As my consciousness started to restore, I could hear the busy groans of the crew inside the Normandy. My eyes opened and I could tell that I was in the Med Bay. I could still feel the stabbing pain on my neck. I lifted a hand to touch it, only to find that a bandage had been placed there. I winced a little as I felt the soft cotton, probably a temporary cover for while I was sleeping. I knew Dr Chakwas wasn't a put-a-bandaid-on-it type of woman.

Sitting up, I noticed that the Med Bay was empty. No Dr Chakwas. Nobody was there.

I already had a sense that I knew where Garrus would be. In the main battery of the ship, playing with weapon upgrades and calibrating guns.

Samara would be meditating... somewhere. Anywhere she could find that was quiet. But I had to talk to somebody that could tell me what happened. Did everyone get out alright? How badly was I hurt?

What happened after we escaped?

I walked out of the Med Bay, with the intent of speaking to Joker. He normally had some reports on the missions, with snarky comments to spare.

As the door granted me passage to leave, there was Garrus standing in front of me.

"I...was just coming to check on you. Are you alright?"

Shaking my head, I could see that Garrus regretted the question as soon as he'd said it.

"I meant... you know... did the Doctor patch you up okay?"

"No lasting damage, I don't think. Of course I haven't actually seen her yet. I just woke up"

"Oh, well. You should go find Dr Chakwas. Check that everything is normal."

I could feel anger building up inside me. Why didn't he care? Why was he sending me away? Why wasn't he telling me that thank god i'm alive, and that he'd been worried sick?

"Garrus. I could've died."

"I know. I was there. I was the one that pulled you away from the vorcha. I carried you safely to the ship"

My face fell. "Oh.. I didn't... thank you" my eyes darting away him, with a sense of guilt that I could think he didn't care.

He reached for my hands and I let him take them willingly.

"Shepard, after you've talked to the doctors, meet me in your quarters. I want to talk to you about something. Something that doesn't involve fighting Ardat-Yakshi and a gang of Vorcha."

With the corners of my lips rising slightly, my eyes finally met his. "I'd welcome the distraction." I said, kissing the side of his mouth before walking past him.

As I wandered the Crew Deck, searching for Dr Chakwas – and answering many of the ship's crew members who expressed gratitude that she was alive – I remembered something. If Dr Chakwas wasn't in the Med Bay, there's only one other place that she'd be.

I doubled back toward the Med Bay and walked into the AI Core, or Server room, where Dr Chakwas was standing in the middle of our data processing systems. Standing there still, until she heard me come in.

"Oh, Shepard. Good to see that you are awake. How is your neck?"

"Glad not to be broken. How are you?"

"Oh, me? I'm fine. I was just thinking about.. EDI. Sure, she had been an AI but she had been so useful to the crew. Joker in particular misses her. And I think all of us miss having her around to talk to every now and again. She was quite remarkable."

I nodded. I knew how much Edi's destruction had affected everyone on the Normandy, particularly those crew members that usually worked alone. Like Engineer Adams, like Dr Chakwas, like Joker.

"I know. I wish I could promise to bring her back. But the truth is.. I don't even know if that's possible."

"It's all right Commander. Now, let's take a look at that neck of yours."

–

After a thorough examination from Dr Chakwas, my skin was bound together with some sort of expert lazer stitching. I wasn't quite sure how it worked, I didn't watch, but all I knew was that my skin felt fresher and sort of.. crispy. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing. But it was healed, that was the main thing.

Basic training had told Shepard to retreat from an overwhelming force. The funny thing was, the Vorcha were no more overwhelming than the Reapers. Of course, that didn't make us immortal. I still needed to be careful.

Whilst on the way to my personal quarters, I thought about how they would return to Omega. They would take a stealth approach. If they could get in undetected, the Blood Pack would be a lot easier to take out, without alert to the rest of the crew.

As for Morinth, well, Samara had killed her once before. Sure, she won't be thrilled about doing it again. I knew that I'd have to speak to Samara. She had been uncharacteristically quiet during the mission, even in response to hearing her own daughter's voice again. Although, getting nearly killed by vorcha did rid you of time for contemplation.

As the doorway parted to my quarters, I saw Garrus standing there. He approached me, with unease in his stride.

"What did the Doctor say?"

"Calm down, Garrus. I'm going to be fine. Good as new" I smiled, hoping to reassure him. He didn't look reassured though.

"You like keeping me on your eyes, huh? What is this, the third almost-death?"

"But I keep coming back..." I moved closer to him, my arms drawing closer to his waist.

Garrus welcomed me into his embrace. He rested his face against my forehead and held me tighter than a Turian should. "I just don't want to lose you..."

"Then.. let me.. breathe.." I choked, with us both chuckling as he let go. When the giggling died down, Garrus seemed in higher spirits.

His hand grasped mine, leading me over to the bed.

"I know where this is going.." I teased, still trying to make him blush.

"It's not what you think" he replied, hastily adding "but good to know that's an option."

We sat together on the edge of the bed, with me leaning into him as he spoke.

"Shepard, I know that your a dedicated, smart, phenomenal soldier. But, one day your going to have to let someone else have a turn-"

"Not anytime soon. Too much galaxy left to help."

"...That's what I'm talking about. Shepard, if you died tomorrow, do you know what my one regret would be?"

I didn't answer at first, I didn't feel it needed to be answered. Garrus clearly had something to say, I wanted to let him say it.

"Being with a human that could die at any second?" I took a wild guess, hoping to inject a little light-heartedness into the conversation. In truth, I was afraid of where this was going.

Garrus didn't answer. So I simply shook my head, encouraging him to go on, when he finally answered me.

"Not marrying her."


	4. Till Death Part 2

Her blue hips swayed to the pulsating waves of music bursting throughout Afterlife. Her body wrapped into a black one-piece suit that clung to her body, her hands drifting over the shoulders of men and women alike, like promises hanging in mid air. Morinth's love of Afterlife could be summed in one word – ecstasy. Her face was alight and her troubles non-existant.

In a sea of eerie cheers, one individual human's voice spoke out to her from within the crowd. "Hi" he spoke quickly, then coughed lightly to fill the silence as Morinth turned around. Her eyes playful, she swayed gracefully over to the human. His hair was blonde and tussled – yet he was clearly innocent – and his clothes were that of a squire rather than a prince.

"Hey, you wanna dance?" she asked with a coy yet firm offer.

"Sure!" he beamed, apparently privileged to be given that honour.

The next few hours were a frenzy of movements against one another in a predatory meeting of flesh. Morinth could lose herself easily in the violent rhythms that jolted inside her with every beat.

Eventually, the atmosphere at Afterlife throbbing behind them as Morinth eventually whisked him away to her apartment. To the necessary confines of private space, where Morinth intended to take her next victim.

Upon entering the room, her partner's curious gaze reached the chess table above the stairs. Morinth watched him approach it with hazed interest, as her mind was also flitting back to her brief conversation with Commander Shepard and whether or not she'd heed her warning. Oh well, no point thinking of that now.

The floor creaked slightly as her boots ventured across the white carpet. She let herself move behind his tall frame, her lips moving in a sensual nature to his left ear.

"Why don't you join me on the couch?" her voice so soft and confident that she could see her words slithering through his skin.

_I love any game where your opponent can believe he's about to win... right before you kill him._

–

Meanwhile, the war that raged through the galaxy, that war that saw the end of synthetic life, was nothing compared to what I was feeling as Garrus uttered those words.

"Shepard, if you died tomorrow, do you know what my one regret would be?"

"Being with a human that could die at any second?"

Garrus looked at me in a way I'd never seen him look before. I couldn't determine what he was feeling, or what he was going to say. There was a pause and I could feel the room hold it's breath.

"...Not marrying her."

His body leant downward, his arm reached beneath the bed and pulled out a small black box. I'd been surprised by many things in my lifetime, coming back from the dead and getting sex advice from a Salarian were the two examples that came to mind, but by this revelation I was stunned to silence.

"I've been doing some more research on human relationships. Apparently, this is what you do..." his voice trailed off as he opened the box, revealing a steel-coloured band with an emerald embedded in it's core.

"It was made from the earth on Menae, where we reconciled after the Collector base... And the emerald goes with your eyes." he admitted shyly, his voice getting more nervous by the second – reminding me that I had yet to speak.

"It's beautiful" I admitted with a smile.

"Then it suits it's wearer perfectly" he responded in a smooth, upbeat tone.

"You really hid this under my bed?" I interjected with a bemused look.

"No, I hid it under _our_ bed" he corrected. Waiting long enough, the words came out again. "Will you marry me Shepard?"

The words flooded through me at light speed. Marriage. What did that mean? Being together for a lifetime, raising a family, were me and Garrus family-type people? What if I lost my independence as Commander Shepard? Would I someday be seen as nothing more than Mrs Vakarian, wondering the whole time whether it was worth giving up a galaxy to save to settle down and raise Human-Turian hybrid children?

"I appreciate the gesture, but I don't need you to take care of me Garrus. I can look after myself-"

"I know that Shepard. If there's one thing I've learnt fighting alongside you, it's that you'll always be Commander Shepard. I'm not trying to say that you need protecting. I just want you and everyone else to know that when things get tough and all hell breaks lose... your husband is there."

Taking a deep breath, my face broke out into a smile.

"Yes. Of course I'll marry you!" I said through exasperated breath as I threw my arms around him. With my face buried in his armour I could feel his body grow increasingly at ease.

Moving back to gratefully accept my ring, I looked up at Garrus and said "I love you". The ring slid onto my finger as he returned the gesture, fitting perfectly. Surprising when I considered that female Turian fingers were substantially larger than humans.

"Shepard? We've got Liara on the vidcomm. Should I patch her through?"

Joker's voice broke our touch and as always, my mind went back to the mission ahead of me. I sprinted to my intercom, pushing the button so that Joker could hear me.

"Put her through Joker, I'm heading to the Comm room now" I affirmed, shooting Garrus an apologetic look.

"It's alright. I'm used to it." he replied. "Though I can't vouch for Joker not doing it on purpose. He always waits until the last second before I start my calibrations to tell me that I'm needed on deck for some sort of spontaneous security check".

I smirked, approaching him one last time to place a solitary kiss upon his lips.

After taking the elevator, I trekked across the old war room where Liara's holographic frame was waiting for me. Static was blasting through the systems while her voice consisted of scattering words and sounds.

"Shep-ard! She-p-d! C- you, hear- m-" it flickered. Panicked that she was in trouble or that she was being cut off before giving us valuable intel, I knew that I had to do something.

"Adams! Get this damn annoying connection online! I'm getting nothing but static!"

Without an assigned tech expert, Engineer Adams had agreed at least temporarily to take Edi's place in the manual running of the Normandy's systems. Our defence systems and piloting were still done by Joker, although he frequently made comments about retiring these days.

"What's wrong with the connection!?" I demanded as Engineer Adams rushed to the monitors, attempting to read what was going wrong. I had never said anything to Adams, but in my experience organics just weren't the most exceptional choice for tech experts in the galaxy. The exception being Tali, who had been gone faster than a flash once the war with the Reapers was over, back to her homeworld.

"Adams! Anything?" I urged, when mutterings started to squeak through the system.

"Cita-ddd-ell. Cit-a-..." the connection choked and finally shut down.

Engineer Adams looked apologetic, my eyes avoided him as I processed what had just happened. What did Liara want? As a Shadow Broker, she must have important information, perhaps to do with Morinth. Or Ashley. Or damn, even what the hell was happening on Omega.

"She said the Citadel. So that's where we're going. Joker, set up our navpoint for the Citadel."

"Aye aye Commander" his voice responded through the inter-com. It was at this point that Adams interrupted my train of thought.

"Commander, the connection was at maximum frequency. In a place as well wired as the Citadel, there was no way we'd get static like that. Wherever she was, she couldn't have been at the Citadel."

I frowned. He wasn't wrong. Unless someone was tampering with the systems. "All I know is that trying to retrieve the signal is pointless and the Citadel is our first clue as to what Liara wanted-"

"And what about Morinth?" Samara's frame stood in the doorway to the Comms room, her hands behind her back in a regal manner.

"Are you going to let her kill more innocent people on Omega?" she asked with a persistent tone, taking a step toward me as Adams sunk into the background and slipped out of the room.

"Look, Liara could have information on why Morinth is here. How to stop her. Finding her is vital to this mission."

"And damn the consequences." she bit back with a glare that could kill.


	5. Tensions

Samara's words stung like a blade to the throat - and Samara was about as subtle as one too. Her manner had always been cold, but I knew that this had nothing to do with me. Whatever magic had resurrected Morinth had also revived old wounds. There was little point in her blaming me but there it was, I could see one of my crew members draining themselves of trust in me.

"There's only so much emotion that could be thrown into the mission before we all lose sight of the big picture, Samara. What do you want me to do? Thrust my crew into Afterlife, charging at the enemy with no idea what we're fighting? What kind of strength it has? I know that your hurting, but you can't let that cloud your judgement. That's a slippery slope of no return."

Despite my harsh affirmation, Samara's eyes glazed over my words as if she'd already lost faith in me.

"This is nothing more than a game to you, Shepard. Strategy and tactics. You were always the one that had to have a plan. Meanwhile, my _daughter_ is out there and I don't know what she is doing - whether she's hurting people. That concerns me, Shepard. It concerns me... deeply." her last words lingered like a firm whisper as she took her leave out of the Comms room.

The second her figure disappeared from sight, I lifted my hands and arched them against my forehead in irritation. My teeth clenched as I resisted the urge to growl at her petulant manner. Feelings of doubt and an overwhelming sense that we were walking into danger refused to shake from my mind. Was Samara right? Or was she letting her feelings get the better of her? Hell, what even was right anymore? One of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make - Virmire - had come back to life to kill me. 'Right' was a flexible term right now.

Storming out of the comm room some time later, who better to run into than my newly-titled fiancee.

"There you are. Listen, I told James about us - his words were 'How _exactly_ does that work?' but he congratulates us both.."

"Not now, Garrus" I attempted to pass him, but the narrow doorways of the Normandy were no match against his Turian figure.

"Woah, woah. What's wrong?" he asked, easing up immediately with concern.

I stopped and took a breath, closing my eyes as I did so. Samara had already taken her anger out on me, Garrus didn't deserve the same treatment.

"I'm sorry. You don't deserve this..."

"Talk to me."

I looked up at him with a wry smile; I could try the whole talking-things-out thing. I didn't always have to be independent Shepard. It was going to take some practice but I'd give it a shot.

"Not here, let's talk alone"

I walked with him past the galaxy map and we loitered around the doors until we could determine which ones were empty. I would've suggested my own quarters, but I wasn't sure that I trusted me and Garrus in such a close proximity to the possibility of forget-the-fate-of-the-galaxy sex. Either way, Garrus didn't seem to question it. Once we deduced that the crew quarters were empty, we slipped inside.

Following the Reaper invasion, there were an excess of beds in the crews quarters. Nobody had said anything due to effect of nostalgia that it invoked amongst the existing crew; but it had the added effect of making me feel confined as Garrus looked at me expectantly.

"Samara thinks I'm a jackass for taking us to the Citadel. She thinks we should be back on Omega, attempting to kill someone that should already be dead."

My body lowered onto the lower bunk of one of the crew beds and winced as my neck throbbed with a burning soreness, reminding me what happened last time I threw myself into Omega without a plan. Luckily it was only a sharp slice of pain that went away within seconds. Garrus too lowered himself onto the bed, bending a little so that he wasn't hitting the top bunk. His intimidating height was one of the reasons that I felt safe around him.

"Samara's main priority has always been to find Morinth. Hell, that was how we found her. It's not surprising that she'd be anxious... Although it's about time she showed you the respect you deserve as Commander. Being a Justicar doesn't make her above your orders."

"She seems to think so." I sighed. "It doesn't bother me, I just want to know that I'm making the right decision. It feels like my life is nothing but endless decisions, endless choices on how to handle a situation and how do I know if I'm making the right call anymore? I stopped the Reapers - at the price of all synthetic life. I don't know anymore, Garrus."

Upon Garrus' mention of finding Samara, my mind had been cast back to that first visit to Illium. I recalled the mission, certainly, where the crew were aiming to uncover what ship Morinth had left on. However, another asari also entered my mind, Erinya.

Erinya, the woman who had lost both her daughters when the Citadel was attacked. Encountered after Shiala had asked me to talk her into releasing the Feros colonists out of her contract. This asari had stuck in mind as I recalled her cheeks sodden with tears as she recalled that her daughters worked within the Citadel. Her bondmate loved Quarian culture, her daughters were a greeter for the consort and a receptionist at the embassies. She had lost the fight with her legs as she fell to the ground, trembling with loss. Finally, I was able to make her realize that her family wouldn't want her to take her anger out on the Feros colonists.

There was a stretched silence, with Garrus looking distant as if working it all out himself. I welcomed the silence. I could hear the breezy waves of vibrations coming from the direction of the Starboard Observation Deck; Samara must be letting out her frustrations with biotics - I expected that the place would be little more than rubble by the time we arrived on the Citadel.

Why had Samara never broke down? Trembled with sadness, shed a single tear? Her stoic nature made her seem uncaring. Yet Morinth bothered her so greatly.

"Shepard?"

Garrus' voice tore me out of my thoughts. "I was just thinking about Samara. Her whole demeanor. Why did we never see her truly mourn Morinth? Don't you think that she'd have cared a little more at the time, if it matters so much to her now?"

"Well, if we had a daughter that you had to kill, would you let anyone know that it bothered you?"

I smirked as the topic returned yet again to our future: "Were you always this much of a family guy, Garrus?"

He returned my grin, making a short 'hm' sound - that distant look in his eye again.

"That's what love does, I guess. Turns a guy like me into a dreamer with white picket fences and pet varren eating all the neighbor kids"

He chuckled as he saw my eyes widen. "That was a joke, Shepard. Your going to have to get used to my sense of humour."

With a smile and a breath of relief, I rested my head on his shoulder. After a pause, my mind drifted back to the Citadel.

"Morinth was able to cross planets before. The Council should be aware of her and Ashley, in case they try to attack the Citadel."

"You think they'll go after the Citadel?"

With infamous memories, I replied: "No, but that's usually when they do."

Whilst Samara and I bore a look to each other, rarely breaking eye contact, the rest of the crew remained professional during our briefing in the Comms room.

"Team one: You're the investigations team. When you touch down on the Citadel, find Commander Bailey and try to find out if anyone has seen Liara. If he can point you in her direction, send me a message through my omni-tool and head there immediately. Find out why she contacted the Normandy and whether she has any information on Morinth, Ashley or what's happening on Omega. I can't think of anyone better to know what's going on than the Shadow Broker..."

I paused as I scanned my investigations team with weary eyes. Splitting up my team wasn't my favourite tactic, but I couldn't take the risk that Liara was in danger nor could I keep Morinth waiting too long. It was a rare moment of indecision - not aided by Samara's accusatory glare as I started to detail the plans for team two.

"Team two, you're taking the tunnels under Omega. The Normandy will drop off team one and head straight there. Populated areas will be heavily guarded but we're not there to fight - not yet. Your objective is to find out what Morinth is doing there. Who are her team, who's backing her up? We need to know what we're up against. Keep an eye out for Aria, see if you can find out where they're holding her. Anything goes wrong, the Normandy will be on stand-by to pick you up. Once your all back on board, you'll come back to pick us up"

"What will you be doing?" interjected Samara, apparently not reconciled by my alteration to the mission.

Before I could comment, Joker came in through the intercom.

"Commander, the council have said they're ready when you are - they'll meet you at the embassies."

His words cut like a knife into the team's contentment. A new layer of sound filled the air as crew members started to shift and whisper to each other.

"It seems that diplomatic pandering now has an involvement in our mission. Be sure to think of us as we risk our lives for you to schmooze the Councillors!" Samara spoke with venom in her tone, stepping towards me with an air of entitlement.

"That's not what this is about!" she gave me a look as if my density was apparent. As if I had closed my eyes and lifted a banana instead of the sniper rifle. A look of bemused curiosity upon her facial features, her lips pressed together as if locked by chains. Whilst she seemed to be attempting to remain composed, I noticed that her hands had balled up into fists and were emitting flickers of blue sparks spitting out of her hand, as if warming up for an attack.

It was the most frightening I'd ever seen Samara look. Seconds before I reached for my gun, she spoke.

"Irregardless. Every deed has it's consequences, Shepard. My conscience cannot bear to lose another daughter. Exploitation of my loyalties will not be taken lightly."

Five of twenty crew members by this point had backed off upon seeing the dark fire in Samara's gaze. The rest of the team turned their attentions to the view outside the Normandy, where the docking bay of the Citadel was coming into view.


	6. Embrace Eternity

**A/C: I just wanted to take a quick opportunity to thank all those currently following this story: ****MerToTheCado, Ordo Rolanberry, ****Shadowstrider14 & Fasterghost. It really means a lot to me.**** If there's something you'd like to see more of, feel free to post a review to let me know.**

**Also, this chapter starts off with mature sexual content. Just a warning. If you'd like to skip it, just skip ahead to the next section indicated by a line in the prose.**

**Quotes in italics are property of Bioware and ergo were not written by myself.**

We broke apart after a long sigh that signaled a climax that rippled through my nerves. Garrus was built with the stamina and strength to survive an apocalypse on Palaven but even I could hear him panting for breath as we laid on the bed in a blissful daze.

"That was.."

"I know."

Garrus cut me off before I could utter the words. Something about that time was ... different. He had been more welcoming to my embrace as I had the pleasure of not seeing his armor snag and resist as I tried to remove it in heated desperation.

"I guess we're over the whole awkward inter-species thing."

"About time ..." after a pause, he spoke with relief: "I'm not going to miss that phase."

I smirked. "Really? I'm going to miss all those compliments about my supportive waist."

I could see him wince a little as I reminded him of our first night together. I let out a shallow breath and paused for a moment.

"Are you okay?"

"No... I mean yes.. I mean, you're... amazing. I just don't know how you fell for a Turian like me."

He tried to recover his smile as I maneuvered myself closer to him. My arms slid across his chest, feeling the tough skin underneath. He had many scars, most of which made his skin tender yet rugged at the same time. None of them hurt anymore, of course, but it reminded me just how much hurt he'd been through.

My lips met his softly while my hands caressed his face and didn't waiver as my body rose to envelop him under my control.

"You didn't think we were done, did you?" I teased, rolling my tongue over his chest playfully.

I could hear him purring as I worked my way to his lips once more. His body became receptive to the touch of my fingertips - and I liked it that way.

My fingers danced across his inner thighs, encouraged with every grunt of frustration to torment him just a little longer. Between breathless gasps, I hear the words 'lucky' and 'Turian' pieced together between the vicious sounds of restraint. Beneath my touch I could feel the tension in his body rising up like lava breaking free of a volcano.

It was then that a thought struck me. I was due to meet the council soon. The crew were probably assembling positions, the Normandy would soon be docking onto the Citadel. What if this all-too-perfect moment would soon be ruined by Joker patching through docking clearance or one of the crew coming down to check if the Commander was ready.

Biting my lip, I looked down at the bed beside Garrus's waist, his body slowly decoiling from his erotic state as he sensed my hesitance.

I met his gaze after a few seconds. "I was just thinking about the Council."

Garrus made a sound that was half-sigh, half pitiful chuckle. "Not the worst line I've heard in bed, I guess."

I snorted derisively, "I'll bet." before getting dressed, ready to resume being Commander Shepard.

Finally the Normandy docked into the Citadel and I stepped out along with Glyph the drone, squeaking happily as he went out to find his master The Shadow Broker, followed closely after by James and a few new recruits that James had taken to quite fondly. When they were on missions, he shifted alongside them like childhood friends. At the same time did everything short of hauling their asses out of the airlock when they screwed up.

"I'm counting on you James. Talk to Commander Bailey and find out what happened to Liara. If this is bad, we need to know about it. The Normandy will be back to pick you up but in case it takes a while, you can use my apartment in the meantime."

They couldn't hide the pure delight in their faces. James straightened up again after a minute and cleared his throat.

"Understood, Commander."

As for me, I walked alone to the Embassies. The sounds of my footsteps stretched across the hallway that seemed wider than the universe.

Finally, I reached the point of no return. The Council Meeting Room.

It gave me no joy to be entering another day of judgement with the council; they hadn't exactly given me the support I needed in the past. As I approached the door, I thought about how the Normandy would be setting a course for Omega while I was playing nice. Long ago, I hadn't wanted to be just another politician fighting humanity's cause. It still wasn't what I _wanted_ - but it was something that I had to do.

The door parted and revealed the sight of the four Councillors; Tevos, the asari; Valern, the salarian; Sparatus, the turian; and Darnell Valik, the latest human Councillor that had replaced Donnel Udina following the attempted Citadel Coup by Cerberus.

It was the newcomer that spoke first. Valik took a firm grasp of my hand as I walked through the door.

"Commander Shepard. What a privilege to see you again. I understand that a great deal of time has passed since you last came to the Citadel. I am inclined to ask, what changed?" he inquired, his words razor-sharp and cut through the room like a virus.

Each Councillor looked at me in turn as I hesitated to answer the question.

"Pardon me Councillors but my crew and I found several injustices taking place in the Terminus systems-"

"-And what of us? Or had you not heard that there were a string of murders on Thessia?" quipped the asari Councillor.

My eyes looked like graves. "Murders? Of asari?" I questioned with urgency.

Sparatus interjected before the asari councillor could speak. My mind went uneasy, for Sparatus had been my biggest critic for as long as I could remember. Whatever he had to say, it certainly wouldn't be in favour of me or my decisions.

"Do not be hasty, Councillor" he said, speaking first to Tevos before turning back to me. "Allow Commander Shepard to tell us, what important missions has our noble Spectre been undertaking since her last visit to the Citadel?"

This was it, my time to come clean.

"Councillors, I came face-to-face with an Ardat Yakshi that was supposed to be dead.." I could sense the asari councillor's uneasiness as she heard me say the term. I knew of the difficult position the Asari government would be in if an Ardat-Yakshi was revealed, due in large to the secrecy of their existence to the rest of the galaxy.

Ignoring her pleading eyes, begging me not to utter a single other word, I spoke the name;

"Morinth."

Her heated gaze fixated on me as I walked across the bar.

_"My name is Morinth. I've been watching you. You're the most interesting person in this place. I've got a booth over here in the shadows. Why don't you come sit with me?"_

Her questions were so innocent, yet the way her voice resonated in the air was like that of sin. I joined her at her booth in Afterlife, mentally prepping myself with every bit of information I could muster from talking to Samara. The aim was clear: get her interested.

_"Some nights I come here and there's no one interesting to talk to. Some nights, there's just one person. Tonight it's you, why is that?" _she asked curiously, her fixed gaze showing a faint interest in me already.

_"I know what I like" _I replied, remembering that Morinth was attracted to those that oozed confidence. It wasn't hard to show confidence. After all, the shy kids never made it past Alliance training.

_"Do you?" _she answered, her voice perking as if wanting to know more.

As tempted as I was to slip Justicars into the conversation - just to find out what her response would be to any slither of remembrance to her family - I avoided it and steered the conversation to a subject that I knew she'd like.

_"I've traveled all over the galaxy" _I boasted. It was obvious to me that she was a woman that breezed through worlds without taking a glance back at the destruction left behind her. If nothing else, I knew she'd be at least curious.

Her eyes met mine as her voice leveled with a smooth undertone.

_"It changes you, doesn't it?"_

As clique as it sounded, even I knew the allure of the unstable, bad boy/girl routine.

"_Real travel means going to dangerous places"_

_"Where you can see and do things most people can't imagine" _her intrigue was as clear as day, so that all I needed to answer was "_Yes."_

_"When I travel, I find myself drawn to dark, dangerous places" _she confessed, her eyes seeking mine as a Queen searches for the most prizeworthy jewel.

I decided to maintain the bad girl persona, it seemed to be working.

"_Violent places?" _I inquired.

"_Violence is the surest expression of power." _

Admittedly, the poetry to her language was enticing. Ashamedly, I felt quite drawn to her. It was easy for me to under-estimate the power of the Ardat-Yakshi, especially when I had been sent on a mission to destroy her. Talking to her felt... safe. Although I was supposed to be playing dangerous.

"_Do you think this conversation is about power?" _I asked, somewhat ironically, as I already knew the answer.

"_Of course it is" _she tsked.

"_The fact that I'm sitting here in your booth means I'm winning" _I replied smoothly.

"_I think you might be right" _she replied with a hearty chuckle that stirred waves of elatedness as if it were drugging my soul.

It seemed to be working though, as her next words would secure her death.

"_Do you want to get out of here? My apartment is nearby, and I want you alone."_


	7. The Ardat-Yakshi

_"I want you alone."_

Morinth had spoken. She wanted me alone and she was going to have what she wanted. There was a confidence in her eyes, as if she already knew that I wasn't about to decline.

"Lead the way." I said, rising out of the booth with Morinth and headed towards the exit. I never thought of Afterlife with it's drunken clientele as a place to hang around in for longer than necessary anyway, so I was more than happy not to continue our conversation under the thudding beats and harsh rhythms.

As we walked towards the apartments, conveniently close to Afterlife - an intentional move, I was certain, to prey on the many visitors to Afterlife each night - it wasn't long before Morinth was moving ahead of me, indicating the door to her own apartment.

I turned my head, for there it was, a sleek metal door that looked no different than the rows of others. Yet it was likely to behold a body count higher than anyone would dare imagine.

I followed her willingly into the apartment, knowing that Samara was hot on our tail. She would move slower than I and Morinth to avoid detection; but we still had a mission to do.

Morinth laid herself against the sofa with her legs crossed and one arm draped over the sofa.. she was waiting for me.

"That's a... interesting... sculpture, you have there" I pointed out, attempting not to sound as if I were deliberately stalling the matter; although admittedly I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the many stories she had to tell me. As warm as my insides were whenever she looked at me, I couldn't shake the thought that she'd murdered people. Innocent people.

She began to talk about the sculpture, how it had been a gift from a Krogan suitor. Apparently, the statue had more personality than he.

"Unsurprising, we are talking about a _krogan_" I snorted in agreement. There was a pause. I turned around and our eyes locked for the first time since entering the apartment.

"Morinth?"

"Yes?" the word drawled off her tongue like the moans of pleasure.

My body approached the sofa as I spoke. My frame lowering onto the soft cushions, my words were calm yet assertive.

"Your attractive. Your smart. And you seem to have life all figured out.." she grinned smugly at my compliments, believing that I was already under her spell.

"Don't you ever think of having someone who means more to you than just 'a suitor'?"

With her body still itching with the beat of the club music, she leaned over. Her lips glistening in a unique shade of purple that I'd never seen on an asari before. Light from her window shone against one side of her face, creating an illuminating effect amongst her features. She was deadly. Something inside me was calling to her, begging her to take me whole.

"Not until now." she whispered, her soft words causing my body to quiver involuntarily. An assembly of emotions flooded through me, so much that I could scarcely keep track of what I was feeling. All I could feel was my soul reaching out to her. My brain felt excited, I was buzzed, I was hyper, as if I'd had too much red sand. I wanted to touch her, kiss her, all the while knowing somewhere in the realms of my rational being that this was the very effect that Ardat Yakshi were rumoured to have. I ignored everything that my body was telling me. It was the only way to end this mission.

"Keeps the heart safe, I guess." I commented, avoiding her gaze. I couldn't fault anyone for that. I had kept my heart guarded for so long. I could die tomorrow, yet I'd never let myself love somebody whole. I kept the crew at arm's length. Even if that weren't the case, the only crew member that hadn't abandoned me after working with Cerberus was Garrus. A respectable ex C-sec officer and one of the most honourable turians I'd ever met who'd fought by my side againstSaren and was even now helping me take down the Collectors. Maybe Garrus could be something one day, maybe.

"Is that what you want Shepard? To be safe?" Morinth asked, looking as laid-back as ever.

_"People feel safest right before they die." _I replied bluntly,

Morinth seemed to take insight from my words, replying at last; _"It's true, we're never safe."_

Her words made me realize something. She and Samara were two sides of the same coin. Neither one would stay nestled in a little hut somewhere and ignore the rest of the world. They were the ones in pursuit of danger, the ones that had fierce desire for what they wanted to the extent of killing for it. Morinth for the sake of pleasure and power, Samara for the sake of justice and fulfillment of moral goals. One could argue that Samara's situation deserved more leniency but one could not argue that there between them was a world of difference. In retrospect, it shouldn't have been all that surprising, yet it was nonetheless.

_"I've never understood the fascination with safety. Some of us choose differently..." _Morinth continued on. My eyes lingered as her frame rose from where she was sitting. Her dainty frame pressed against my lap, her gaze serious as if she'd found a kindred spirit in me.

_"Independence over submission. I think we share that, you and I." _she expressed her words in a nonchalant manner.

"_We've both killed many times. But that's where the similarities end." _

"_Why do you say I've killed? Let's stop playing games." _her voice grew sharper, she moved back to the couch but kept her gaze on me. Her eyes became black and hollow; her words became commands that pressed onto my brain like pushing to open a door that was sealed heavily. As my focus started slipping away, little pieces of my mind started letting her in.

"_Look into my eyes and tell me you want me. Tell me you'd kill for me. Anything I want."_

Her words had the effect of a sedative, my body relaxed and my mind was succumbing hastily to thoughts of living in a little town on Earth with the gorgeous asari by my side, growing old, making love, living in perfect ecstasy. She was dominating the situation, becoming the alpha to protect herself from an increasingly unnerving conversation. It seemed to be working, until...

_"Morinth."_ Samara strolled in with anger in her eyes, radiating blue sparks of biotics. Suddenly, Morinth's body was flung against the glass window as Morinth seethed the word _"Mother."_

Suddenly, I was back in the room. Back in the council chambers. "Ardat Yakshi!" Tevos spat out the word like ryncol. "Ardat-Yakshi are a contained situation. Don't you think the asari government would be aware if an Ardat-Yakshi was committing atrocities out in the Terminus systems?" she jeered.

"I know how it sounds. I was there, I watched Samara murder Morinth, bidding her to find peace in the embrace of the goddess as Samara's biotics destroyed her. It couldn't have been an act. I saw the pain on Samara's face as she watched the light leave her daughter's eyes. Trust in the knowledge that I know what it's like to watch family die and to have no other choice, her pain was the same as mine the day I watched my family die on Torfan!" I cried out, thrusting myself forward at the council in plea.

Tevos was unmoved; she had the authority to order death on the Ardat-Yakshi, but I knew as well as they did that there were few options to do so without having the Ardat-Yakshi break out as a feature on every space news station from here to Thessia.

"Your clouded judgement means nothing, Commander. The Ardat-Yakshi are blights on asari worlds that are kept hidden in monasteries and through specialized containment facilities. Even if what your saying is true, her arrival on Omega is then fortune. Best that she is kept away from any asari colonies."

I could feel frustration rising within me, the same type that arises from it's shallow grave every time I meet with the council.

"She won't stop at Omega! I thought the council would have my back on this!" I protested exhaustedly.

It was then that Valern, the vocally unchallenged salarian councillor spoke for the first time.

"This meeting must come to a close, Commander. This is not an issue for the salarian people, nor the Turian. If you and your human councillor wish to discuss the matter with our asari colleague, we suggest you arrange a private appointment with the councillor. This court is dismissed.." he finalized, with all three remaining councillors nodding in unison.

With a sigh, I realized that I shouldn't have thought it any different to every other discussion I'd had with the council, ever.


	8. Her Story

**A/C: **Just a reminder that all italicized quotes are property of Bioware's writing, not my own.

Morinth's hands were circling impatiently over the surface of the bar with a gentleman suitor in front of her, a Turian, who seemed to prefer the sound of his own narrative to anything that she had to say. Her eyes appeared vacant as he brought to life the tales of his many conquests. Every now and then she'd made a 'hmm' filler sound and then he'd return to his previous mode of thought. It wasn't his fault - he thought he was interesting. If there was one thing that Morinth had learned over her years being alone, it was that you could never truly imagine what others think of you. Morinth had spent her whole life feeling the buzz of killing others, exactly as she was born to do. She was an Ardat-Yakshi, she was genetically destined to gain power through the ecstasy of her encounters. Yet she was seen as a murderer by choice, a woman that in spite of all her talents, chose to continue along a life of crime. What was the alternative? Morinth would say. The alternative was to live in a monastery. People telling her when to eat, sleep, what to learn, what experiences to have. Her relationships would be monitored, her motives questioned. That was no life.

_"You know what? I'm going to get us some drinks. The least I can do to pay you back for all the wonderful conversation."_

_"_Oh, uh, are you sure? I didn't even tell you about this one time on Palaven. Me and my buddies were fighting down some husks, right? And then.."

"- I'll be right back" Morinth cut him off abruptly. The shady flow of Afterlife gliding across her body as she walked over to the bar. While planning her escape route, her eyes sought the area where her Turian companion was sitting impatiently. She was reading his features, she could see from the way that his eyes continued to jolt upwards to check she was still at the bar that he was stubbornly convinced he had a chance with her tonight. Then again, it was always the same story. She was an asari, naturally she had to be fair game. There was always some horny ass trying to get into her pants. Morinth was drawn to the interesting, the unique, the educated and the cultured. Many of them she'd spend weeks talking just to learn more about them, figure out what drove them, what their passions were. It was the most exciting part of the game.

Once her Turian companion was looking down at his glass, Morinth took the opportunity to slip out through one of the back doors of Afterlife. With a wiggle in her stride she made her way down to one of the lower levels of Afterlife. She opened the door to see a familiar face perched over the bar, with tassles of brown hair brushing against her shoulders as she allowed her body to dance along to the music surrounding her. In the background, she could hear a news report regarding the district of Omega that had mysteriously been blown to pieces. A half-smile erupted from her lips as she approached her partner, Ashley.

"Still no sign of Shepard. You should've helped me with my plan instead of playing games. It involved blowing her the hell up." Ashley grunted with a bitter tone. Ashley blended into the atmosphere of the nightmare remarkably well. Her hair was loose, her legs exposed and inviting, her body was covered in a sharp, sexy red dress that broke off just under the waistline. Enough to tease, enough to make a person want to know more.

"I'm looking forward to killing her as much as you are. More so, in fact, as my excitement comes from a place of justice. Of righting the wrong done to me, when my only crime was being born. I'm excited to wish her peace in the embrace of the goddess as I smear her blood on the walls." Morinth replied matter-of-factly. Her smile curled into something more sinister; the beats of Afterlife grew faster and faster as the current song reached it's climax. Ashley watched Morinth take a swig of some sort of whiskey, then spit in disgust and toss it back at the bartender. Morinth was extremely assertive and seemed to stare him down displeasedly until he poured her something presumably better tasting.

With drink in hand, Morinth rose from her seat and Ashley followed along. The close proximity in which Ashley was walking beside her as they found a silent corner to skulk in seemed to create a twinge of discomfort within Morinth, although it wasn't easy to tell. Her cheeks twitched with a surrendering eye roll as Ashley indicated a quiet-ish corner for them to carry a conversation. Omega wasn't really the type of place where criminals had to skulk in corners making shady deals; they usually did those out in the open. And true to it's nature, no sooner had Ashley opened her mouth to speak when a Krogan flew past her and landed on the ground with a shattering thud. The ground trembled as the brutish krogan regained his composure, charging back towards the center of the room where his attacker stood with a churlish grin. As Morinth listened to them exchange threats, her eyes seemed wistful and contemplative.

"That's what's missing from the asari race. We can't survive on love, sex, offers of devotion and inter-species reproduction. The asari must be able to fight for themselves, to wage war until the whole galaxy trembles in fear..."

There was a pause.

"Do you know why I am the genetic destiny of the asari, Ashley?" she asked.

The whole of Afterlife seemed to bait it's breath. The words started to form on her mouth, with the drums of the music muted as far as anyone listening was concerned. She held the room perfectly, even though there was only Ash talking to her. Her eyes flitted from couple to couple as Omega reached the early stages of morning, where couples were tossing away their inhibitions like old clothes and throwing themselves mercilessly into the arms of strangers. Locked lips and clumsy dry-heaving as they fumbled to find an exit. Her mind then flitted back to it's original statement.

"Because I am cleansed of the one vice that weakens us most; love." she stated outright, a fixed stare on one couple practically hanging off their chairs, grabbing at each other between giggles and throwing batarian ale into their gullets. They wouldn't have enough sense to raise a finger before someone could throw them at the walls and kill them on the spot. When Morinth considered this, it reminded her of the feeling of taking Hallex. Everything around her enveloped her in a warm, cosy blanket. She just knew everything was okay and every thrill was going to last the night away. The difference being that Morinth was in control of it, those that felt the pang of love could be unpredictable, irrational, weak-willed and ultimately of no use to anyone as they shriveled up into a shell of misery and despair, of resentment and of solitude. Morinth looked at the idea of love and scoffed, what made it such an extraordinary thing, when there were many without love that did greater things?

All speculation of course, as Morinth had never felt the shot of adrenalin that came from falling in love, if such a thing was truly possible. She had become fixated on the idea of lust, passion, desire, heat. That smouldering gaze, that brush of the skin, the firm grasp of your lover as they take you roughly with unmatched longing. There was the thrill, there was the buzz. After that, there wasn't anything more that she needed to know about them. After that, they were dead to her...

And everyone, as a matter of fact.

"Bullshit."

Ashley's voice broke Morinth away from her thoughts. Blinking, she asked: "What?" with an inquisitive yet also irate tone. As if she'd snatched her away from a precious thought that she wouldn't be able to get back.

Ashley moved closer to Morinth with a confrontation manner, though her voice couldn't be more than a harsh whisper.

"You really believe that crap? Your condition wasn't something you chose, it was something that was done to you. Something that happened in your genes without your consent. There must've been a time when you wanted what the rest of us want; someone to be close to, to love you, wholly and completely."

"I think that if you were familiar with the feeling, you wouldn't be saying this." was all that she would reply. Without letting another second slip by, Morinth could feel Ashley's lips pressing against hers. Her arms snaked around her waist and she drew her closer into the kiss, Morinth found herself embracing the warm feeling of her tongue against hers before Ash hastily pulled away.

"How do you know that I'm not?" she whispered, releasing her hold on Morinth reluctantly. Morinth's lips broke into a smile as her ears picked up the faint sound of the conversation occuring one table away.

"Did you hear?" the batarian boasted, "the Normandy is back on Omega!" he shrieked with glee, "I've been waiting for my chance to show that Shepard who's really got the balls around here." he shrieked with drunken laughter.

Ashley and Morinth looked at each other with raised eyebrows and smiles so wide that the wrinkles around their eyes were laced with cruelty and sin, respectively.

"This should be fun." said Ashley.


End file.
